Protective garments such as surgical and disposable gowns are well known. This is a time of great concern for the medical profession when treating infectious and contagious patients. The medical professionals typically wear protective suits and coverings to prevent contamination and disease transmission. These suits, while offering a great deal of protection, still may not be useable to protect all areas of the body. Contamination outside a designated area can result in serious consequences. Further, some people may be unable to fit into standard protective garments and may be left with baggy or ill-fitting clothing. Therefore, there is a need for a gown, pants, gloves, and shoe coverings that offer comfort and total protection.
Conventional disposable surgical gowns commonly are constructed from a nonwoven fabric. The gown body section is generally a singular piece of material or is composed of a number of panels of material attached together. An example of a single gown made using raglan-type sleeves, attached to a one-piece gown body, is the light weight gown (product code 90751) from Kimberly-Clark, Corp. of Neenah, Wis., U.S.A.
A drawback to the conventional gown is that the gowns tends to need extra protection in the front chest and torso area. These are the areas most susceptible to the various contaminates. There also is a problem with most gowns being too short for the larger professionals. I have been able to solve these problems by designing a longer gown that comes below the knees and that has attached to the front chest torso area, a plastic apron for extra protection. This is a fixed attachment making the apron easily accessible at all times. There also is a fixed mask made into the collar of the gown, making it easily accessible at all times while wearing the disposable gown.
There are several types of headpieces and devices available to add to the protection of the gown. Some devices provide a protective garment that facilitates protection of the neck and chest of an individual. There are other devices that provide isolation garments with footwear attachments. These devices, however, fail to provide a cowl neck garment with fasteners at the waist, shoulders, and the extremities for the attachment of accessories, such as gloves, shoe covers, and headpieces. This invention relates to a unique configuration for Personal Protective Equipment (hereinafter referred to as “PPE”) that can be worn as layers closing tightly the areas of the wrist and/or upper arms and the ankles and/or legs. Certain drawbacks with conventional gowns can be addressed without sacrificing the gown and other PPE protective wear's nature or compromising any sterile fields.